A Basic Tutorial for Searching the Web

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A Basic Tutorial for Searching the Web

• Technology I
• Mrs. Huddleston

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Check the Content

• Who sponsors the page?
• Who is linking to the page?
• What links to other pages does the page itself
  maintain?
• Can the same information be verified at similar
  sites?
• Try to distinguish between promotion,
  advertising, and serious content.
• Watch out for deliberate frauds and hoaxes.

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Analyzing Web Pages

• Lesson 5

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Analyze the URL

• .edu educational/school site
• .com commercial business site
• .gov U.S. governmental/non-military site
• .mil U.S. military sites and agencies
• .net networks, ISPs, organizations
• .org U.S. non-profit organizations
• Generally, .edu, .gov, and .mil present accurate
  information. The others are more subjective.

5
Check for Vital Information

• Last date page updated
• Mail-to link for questions, comments
• Name, address, telephone number, and email
  address of page owner
• Legitimate sites will readily and easily make
  this information available online.

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Check for Content Cont.

• Anyone can publish a web page.
• Being online doesnt make it true.
• Unlike scholarly books and journal articles, web
  sites are seldom reviewed or refereed.

7
Create a Search Strategy

• Lesson 6

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Determine Your Purpose

• Browse?
• Locate a specific piece of information?
• Retrieve everything I can on the subject?

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Creating a Search Statement

• Be specific
• EXAMPLE    Hurricane Hugo 
• Whenever possible, use nouns and objects as
  keyword
• EXAMPLE    fiesta dinnerware
• plates cups saucers

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Creating a Search Statement

• Put most important terms first in your keyword
  list to ensure that they will be searched, put a
  sign in front of each one
• EXAMPLE    hybrid electric gas vehicles 
• Use at least three keywords in your query
• EXAMPLE    interaction vitamins drugs 

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Creating a Search Statement

• Combine keywords, whenever possible, into phrases
• EXAMPLE    "search engine tutorial" 
• Avoid common words, e.g., water, unless they're
  part of a phrase
• EXAMPLE    "bottled water"

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Creating a Search Statement

• Think about words you'd expect to find in the
  body of the page, and use them as keywords
• EXAMPLE    anorexia bulimia eating disorder 
• Write down your search statement and revise it
  before you type it into a search engine query box
• EXAMPLE   "south carolina" "financial aid"
  applications  grants

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Basic Search Tips

• Lesson 7

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Searching Tips

• Use the plus () and minus (-) signs in front of
  words to force their inclusion/exclusion EXAMPLE
    meat  -potatoes(NO space between the sign and
  the keyword)
• Use quotation marks around phrases to ensure they
  are searched exactly as isEXAMPLE   "bye bye
  miss american pie"(Do NOT put quotation marks
  around a single word.)

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Searching Tips Cont.

• Put your most important keywords first in the
  string.EXAMPLE   dog breed family pet choose 
• Type keywords and phrases in lower case to find
  both lower and upper case versions. Typing
  capital letters will usually return only an exact
  match.EXAMPLE   president retrieves both
  president and President

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Searching Tips Cont.

• Combine phrases with keywords, using the double
  quotes and the plus () and/or minus (-)
  signs.EXAMPLE  cowboys "wild west" -football
  -dallas